“They were taught to hold the paintbrush with their mouths as they worked, wetting it with their tongues and thus ingesting the radium that way. They also played with the radium paint.

Mae Keane, One Of The Last 'Radium Girls,' Dies At 107

Mae Keane, The Last 'Radium Girl,' Dies At In the working-class women were hired to paint radium onto glowing watch dials — and told to sharpen the brush with their lips. Dozens died within a few years, but Mae Keane quit, and survived.

1928 cartoon showing death hovering over "Radium Girls" who died young from bone cancers after ingesting the radioactive element for years while painting watch dials. Mae Keane, the last of the radium girls, died on March 2014 at the age of

The Forgotten Story Of The Radium Girls, Whose Deaths Saved Thousands Of Lives